3 Ways Americans Are Giving Less and Saving More, According to Wells Fargo
Written by
J. Arky
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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It’s no secret that today most Americans are tightening their belts and locking down their budgets just to be able to afford the basic goods and services of their daily lives. According to a recent study by Wells Fargo, Americans are pulling back when it comes to donating money to charitable causes or organizations, opting to personally save more funds to weather the rough economic storm.
These are the three ways that Americans are giving less and saving more.
Donating With a Specific Strategy
Americans have not always had a tendency to do their homework before giving their money to good causes, instead choosing to go with what their gut tells them to do. That might change in the near future, with 27% of those in the Wells Fargo study reporting they ask family and friends for advice on where to donate, with another 6% consulting with a financial advisor ahead of time.
However, there appears to be a shift in this trend because 57% of those U.S. citizens surveyed admitted that they want to have a solid financial game plan in place for giving their money to charitable outlets. This could be due to 49% of the respondents saying they are currently flooded with donation requests on a regular basis.
Planning Around the Calendar
Trends in recent years have aligned donating money with certain events or times of the year, especially the holiday season. Giving Tuesday, which has been the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving for the last 13 years, might be the biggest calendar day for charitable giving. That being said, the data shows that 64% of Americans do not know about Giving Tuesday and have not participated in the past.
While that might sound disheartening, of the 36% of respondents who were aware of Giving Tuesdays, 40% of those Americans said they participated and 17% pointed out that having that specific date on the calendar caused them to up their original donation amount.
Only Giving From the Heart
Additionally, the data showed that when Americans donate their money it’s mostly because of the altruistic feeling they get from supporting a cause or organization they believe can do some good.
Nearly 46% of Americans reported that donating money gave them a sense of happiness while 45% noted how strategic giving lines up with their moral beliefs. In fact, only 10% of Americans in the study reported that they donated money for tax deductions.
What it all boils down to is that Americans care deeply about personal issues, so they will tend to fully support a charity or not at all.
As Americans closely eye their budgets and save as much as possible, they might still be planning to donate a certain amount at specific times, though based on the report, it will likely be only toward the causes and organizations they hold close to their hearts.
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